CD duplication systems, such as marketed under the trade name CD Works.TM., include a bank of CD recorders, a disk printer and a gantry for moving disks from the recorders to the printer. The recorders and disk printer align to enable the gantry to reciprocate along the recorders and disk printer. The robotic arm has a gripper for lifting and lowering the memory storage disks. Such systems require a significant amount of space.
Another CD duplication system with a printer is marketed in the US by Microboards Technology, Inc. This design includes a CD hopper, stacked CD recorders, a printer and a gantry for moving disks from the hopper to the recorder and printer. The printer stacks above the recorders. The gantry is fixed adjacent the stack and includes an arm which grips disks and moves the disks up and down from the hopper to the recorder and the printer, respectively. This system consumes relatively less desktop space than the CD Works.TM. product.
A double gantry system is disclosed by Freund in U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,878. Freund discloses a disk handling system that separates disks from a stack of disks. The Freund system is a double-gantry system. The double gantry system includes a lifting means, tapered shaft, a spring arm and a gripper.
The tapered shaft inserts centrally within a stack of disks. The spring arm is fixed relatively above the stack. The lifting means vertically lifts the stack against the spring arm. The spring arm offsets the uppermost disk from top of the stack. The gripper grasps the edge of the offset disk by its edge to move the disk from the top of the stack.
Gantries do not always handle disks with perfect reliability. One reason for this is that gantries typically have a large number of moving parts. These parts must be coordinated. Lack of coordination can cause disks to jam. The probability of wear and malfunction typically also increases with each moving part. What is desired is a simple system that reliably dispenses and prints disks. What is also desired is a system that consumes a minimum amount of space.